FIRE DAMAGES MATTRESS WAREHOUSE

A fire at the Campbell Mattress Co. caused over $400,000 in damage on Saturday, but no one was injured, Cape Girardeau firefighters said.

The warehouse fire at 100 Minnesota St. was reported to firefighters at 1:33 p.m., but witnesses reported seeing smoke from points west of Interstate 55.

When firefighters arrived at the scene, they started their attack by entering the front of the building, Capt. Mark Starnes said. A crew was also sent to the rear loading docks, he said.

"We found that about 90 percent of the fire was going on outside," he said.

The fire was intense enough to set off two of the 12 sprinkler heads inside the 35,000 square foot building. The sprinklers were able to keep the fire under control inside until firefighters arrived, Starnes said.

The sprinklers sprayed an area roughly 625 square feet, he said.

If the intensity of the fire had been greater, the sprinklers would not have been able to control it.

"The water pressure from the sprinklers is limited," Starnes said.

Smoke was heavy throughout the interior, he said. It accounts for most of the $375,000 of estimated damage to mattresses and materials inside the warehouse.

"It's estimated that about 75 percent of the stock suffered smoke damage," Starnes said.

The fire was concentrated around a loading dock and trash bins at the southeast corner of the warehouse. Piles of waste fabric and foam that had been tossed out as trash were scattered around the dock.

The origin and cause of the fire is being investigated by Fire Marshal Steve Niswonger.

No employees were in the warehouse at the time of the fire, said Norman Wood, owner of Campbell Mattress Co. He and others had finished their work around noon and left, Wood said.

The fire was brought under control within a half hour, said Max Jauch, assistant fire chief. Jauch watched the outside of the building as firefighters used a sledge hammer and axes to knock off parts of the badly burned exterior to prevent injury from falling debris.

The building suffered about $50,000 in damage, Starnes said.

The driver's side of a Campbell Mattress truck was black from flames and smoke, and part of the truck's grill was burned off. But someone was able to drive the truck off the dock, Starnes said.

No nearby businesses or homes were in danger from the fire, he said.